Rouzer concedes in N.C.

11/28/12 9:22 PM EST

Republican David Rouzer has conceded to Democratic Rep. Mike McIntyre in North Carolina’s 7th District.

Rouzer’s loss means that Democrats netted eight seats this year. Democrats will need to flip 17 Republican seats in 2014 in order to seize the speaker’s gavel.

There is one remaining undecided congressional, in Louisiana’s 3rd District, where two Republicans are paired in a Dec. 8 runoff.

With McIntyre, an eight-term incumbent maintaining a 663-vote lead over Rouzer, the Republican announced in a late Wednesday statement that he would forgo further challenges to the vote count. Rouzer had requested a recount, which was completed earlier in the day. The recount increased McIntyre’s lead from 655 votes.

In a statement, Rouzer said: “Now that the recount has been completed and the tally of votes is official, we can move forward satisfied that each vote was counted properly and accurately. I have called Congressman McIntyre to congratulate him on a hard-fought victory, and I wish him well as he joins a new Congress that will be dealing with very difficult issues facing our country.”

Republicans sought to turn McIntyre, who is one of only 14 surviving members of the conservative House Blue Dog Coalition, into one of their top targets, drawing him into a southern North Carolina district with a deep GOP voter registration advantage. McIntyre also survived a hard-fought 2010 reelection race.

After redrawing North Carolina’s congressional map in their favor, Republicans succeeded in netting three more seats in the state.